Testare motoare

Perkins has extensive testing capabilities including an array of advanced engine test cells, and in house component and materials testing laboratories. These all fall under the title "Global Engine Development" (GED).

The GED technical support group was founded in February 2000, following the globalisation of the corporations test operations. GED is constantly evolving to meet requirements for the development, durability validation and evaluation of our products, driven by corporate goals, emissions legislation and customer requirements.

1) Product Validation

Quality is one of the biggest drivers within Perkins. High levels of customer satisfaction and minimal warranty cost are key to the success of any company. As a result Product Validation and Test Engineering are responsible for the build, test, strip and appraisal of all development engines, as well as on-engine testing of resourced and prototype components.

The Product Validation team are responsible for determining the testing requirements of all the 1100 Series products to ensure a high level of confidence in the mechanical and performance durability of all the components we produce.

The Test Engineering team focuses primarily on assessing the mechanical performance over long periods of complete engine testing, typically 250 – 2000 hours. The tests conducted are at much harsher conditions than the engine will see in the application, this accompanied with feedback from other departments, allows the engine life to be simulated in a shorter time frame. The engines are run 24 hours a day, in order to maximise running time.

2) Proving Test

Proving test is responsible for providing facilities for the validation of engines with respect to the application. This is conducted through:

prototype engine installation in equipment and machines in the field
trials to assess, reliability, cold climate performance testing
environmental testing under elevated temperatures and humid conditions.

3) Facilities Engineering

The facilities engineering group provides support for the electrical, electronic, mechanical and emissions measurement facilities associated with engine and component development and validation. The services provided include:

3a) Test Data Systems
The Test Data Systems team is responsible for the provision and support of engine test application and operating systems software tools for the GED facility, as well as the Development and Validation Engineers.

These tools provide the interface for engineers to administer, set up, control, monitor and record test data during an engine test. Post processing tools incorporate relevant legislation requirements for data analysis and comparison, such as correction factors and emissions cycle evaluation.

As development times are reduced, largely influenced by emissions legislation, the need for high quality, quick and accurate data analysis becomes increasingly important. Coupled with the need for greater levels of accuracy in the control and manipulation of test bed and engine variables, the Test Data Systems team will continue to be a highly important function within the organisation.

3b) Electronic Services
The Electronic Services team is responsible for the development, maintenance and calibration of all the electronic hardware in GED. With calibration periods that can be as frequent as every 30 days and over 30 test beds to maintain, in 24-hour operation, they are a vital part of the organisation.

3c) Mechanical Design and Services
The Mechanical Design and Services team are involved in a variety of areas within GED, from new engine rigging equipment for testing, to the design of new test beds, to ensure the facility is capable of coping with the organisations future testing requirements.

3d) Emissions Measurement Services
The Emissions Measurement Services team provides a maintenance and calibration service for both gaseous and particulate emissions equipment. They are also responsible for the evaluation of new emissions equipment and techniques, which are required to meet the business needs of the organisation

4) Component Test and Experimental Stress

The capability to conduct performance, integrity and functional assessment of engine components is provided by the Component Test and Experimental Stress team. Services provided by this team include:

• Vibration/Fatigue testing and analysis
• Torsional vibration measurement and analysis
• Strain gauging and measurement service
• Water flow visualisation
• Oil-pump and water-pump performance assessment
• Fuel injection equipment set-up and testing
• Cylinder head flow measurements
• Air, oil and fuel filter evaluation

Component testing can often be more cost and time effective than on engine testing. In some cases it is the only way in which component properties can be reliably determined. The data collected in this manner is also fed back into the Computer Aided Engineering teams, to correlate and improve the reliability and accuracy of their models.

The Component Test and Experimental Stress team pride themselves in their ingenuity and adaptability, in developing suitable component tests, should they not already exist.

5) Materials Engineering

The materials engineering department provides specialist materials support to the entire Perkins manufacturing and engineering operation. Contract work is also conducted for other enterprise organisations and external customers.

The department provide access and expertise for a variety of analytical techniques and specialist equipment. This includes:

• Mechanical Testing
• Crack Detection
• Optical Microscopy
• Electron Microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis

Technical liaison with the design and component teams, allows suitable material evaluation and selection, as well as alerting them to any problems that have occurred in similar components returned through the service organisation.